Greg McCracken- Outside Reading 5- Symbols

In this class we have discussed how movies communicate with us beyond the typical form of language. In my family interaction book, it said "Communication can be thought of as a process involving the exchange of information through the use of symbols." I thought this was interesting since symbols in movies have been one of the primary discussions of our class. Still, there have been times when I have wondered if symbols in the movie were created before or after the picture was completed. I think many times, a director will shoot something and subconsciously put in some kind of symbol which portrays a higher meaning into the movie. For example, in Apocolypse Now, the shadow which was constantly on Colonel Kurtz was shot as a result of Brando's weight, yet the shadow did a perfect job of symbolizing the characters mysteriousness. I know that there has been times in this class when a symbol in a movie seemed more like coincidence than anything else. I also think it is typical of people to over analyze certain pieces of art. As a writer of music, sometimes I do not know exactly what i'm expressing until I am halfway done the song. These songs for me tend to have the most meaning. Maybe this is a way in which the subconscious expresses itself. The same could be said about direction in a movie.

Still, there is definately more cases where directors use symbols to convey meaning in movies. The best example of this I saw this year was also in Apocolypse Now, when Coppola directed Martin Sheen's character to leave the killing of Colonel Kurtz with a knife in one hand and a book in the other. This was the perfect symbol to represent the characters split between primal instinct and high society. It was also a great symbol when he chose to drop the knife and go home to where he was from.